ARTICLES ABOUT MONK BY DATE - PAGE 3

In early December I stumbled on what may be the largest breakfast in Chicago. It didn't come with a flashy, down-home title, like the "Monster Truck Driver Combo" or the "Peterbilt Protein Pile-up. " Instead it was served to me in near silence, by two demure monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross, where I was staying as a guest at the bed-and-breakfast (chicagomonk.org). The piping-hot homemade bonanza created just for me, a solo traveler, looked like this: three blueberry muffins, two strawberry-stuffed croissant French toast sandwiches, hash browns amounting to at least one large potato, three sausage links, strawberry yogurt, a half carafe of orange juice, a small pitcher of Michigan maple syrup and a plate of fresh pineapple and strawberries, which had been smothered in maple syrup.

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's government has apologized for injuries, including serious burns, suffered last month by monks and others when riot police cleared camps set up to protest against evictions caused by the expansion of a copper mine. Minister of Religious Affairs Myint Maung made a formal apology to 29 senior monks and said police regretted the incident, state-owned television reported late on Friday. Activists said at least 50 people had been injured when riot police moved in at the Monywa mine in the northwest region of Sagaing on November 29. That included more than 20 Buddhist monks, some with burns blamed on incendiary devices thrown by police.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Marine Corps General John Allen, the soberly formal, spit-and-polish head of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, is not a military leader whose image immediately conjures up the word "flirtatious. " The four-star general, who succeeded General David Petraeus last year as head of the International Security Assistance Force, is known for his ability to work with tribal sheikhs, a skill that helped him turn the tide against al Qaeda in Anbar Province in Iraq five years ago and has served him well in Afghanistan.

YANGON (Reuters) - Thousands of Buddhist monks marched in Myanmar's two biggest cities on Monday to protest against efforts by the world's biggest Islamic body to help Rohingya Muslims involved in deadly communal clashes four months ago. The monks, a potent political force in the predominantly Buddhist country, denounced plans by the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to set up a liaison office in northwest Rakhine state, where violence erupted in June between ethnic Buddhist Rakhines and Rohingyas.

ROME (Reuters) - Usually, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sings for people, but this time the Franciscan monks in Assisi sang for his supper as they feted the international superstar on his 54th birthday. Bocelli was in Assisi along with U.S. singer Dionne Warwick and other artists to sing at a benefit concert on Saturday night organized by the Fetzer Institute, a non-profit U.S. group whose mission is to promote peace and forgiveness among peoples. When the monks found out that the date of the concert coincided with Bocelli's 54th birthday, they invited him to partake in a spartan dinner in the refectory of their basilica-convent complex - a Franciscan tradition of hospitality.

A Buddhist monk accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl over two years at a southwest suburban temple lured her with the promise of work and later threatened her and paid her money to prevent her from reporting the alleged abuse, authorities said Friday. Camnong Boa-Ubol, who authorities said impregnated the girl, was ordered held on $5 million bail at a hearing in the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview. He is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault. Prosecutors said the assaults began in 1997 soon after Boa-Ubol and the girl met at a park near the Wat Dhammaram temple in unincorporated Stickney Township.